The Supreme Court agreed to examine a plea challenging restricted disclosure of question papers, answer keys, and candidate responses in NEET PG examinations. A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Vijay Bishnoi stated the issue would be examined further.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has agreed to review a petition challenging the limited disclosure of question papers, answer keys, and candidates’ responses in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Post Graduate (NEET PG) exams.
Bench comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Vijay Bishnoi. said,
“We will examine the issue,”
ALSO READ: Breaking: NEET PG 2025 Postponed: Supreme Court Orders Single-Shift Exam for Fairness
The petition was filed by doctors and NEET-PG aspirants contesting a corrective notice issued by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS). The notice stated that NBEMS would provide access to answer keys and candidates’ responses solely through “Question ID numbers” from a master question paper, rather than showing the specific questions candidates attempted during the exam.
According to the petitioners, this method of disclosure hampers candidates’ ability to gain a clear, individual view of their attempted questions, as different candidates receive different sets of question papers. Due to the exam’s structure, which involved shuffled questions and options, candidates find it challenging to accurately correlate their responses with the questions.
The current disclosure system undermines the transparency expected in the examination process, the petitioners argued.
They claimed that displaying only question IDs makes the disclosure seem illusory and non-verifiable, violating the right to a fair and transparent admission process under Article 21.
Also Read: NEET-PG 2024 || Supreme Court Rejects Plea to Reconduct Counselling
Additionally, the petitioners pointed out that this practice contradicts other national examinations, such as JEE, CLAT, and AIIMS INI-CET, where candidate-wise response sheets are provided in the order they were attempted.
Therefore, they requested a candidate-wise display that includes the questions attempted, marked responses, correct answers, and the awarded marks.
During the previous hearing, the Court had requested Senior Advocate Maninder Acharya to present the report from an expert committee, which stated that only examinees should have access to the test content.
In today’s proceedings, the Court reviewed the affidavit submitted by NBEMS.
Senior Advocate Maninder Acharya, representing NBEMS, remarked,
“Your Lordships are not convinced about the non-disclosure.”
Justice Narasimha clarified,
“Nothing personal. We will just examine it.”
Senior Advocate Shikhil Suri, along with advocate Satyam Singh Rajput, represented the petitioners.
Case Title : Aditi and Ors v National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences and Ors
FOLLOW US FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES ON YOUTUBE
